Foreigners Face New Hurdles in Opening Thai Bank Accounts

[Yumthai]

32 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

Try opening an account in the UK as a non-permanent resident or even a UK citizen without a permanent address in the UK you can verify.

Some banks in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, although it's not technically UK, open accounts to non-residents meeting their minimum deposit/AUM requirements.

[baansgr]

6 hours ago, Ben Zioner said:

How could they support the local economy when they have to resort to "illegal" visas, because they don't meet the rockbottom requirements set by Thai Immigration to ensure that they do contribute.

This is not only agents, this is the same for everyone..sorry, your piddly little 800k can't buy  you out of this one

[chuang]

Try opening an account with a million baht... it's a breeze..

With few hundred baht..!!!!!..

[PomPolo]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Measures, such as cutting off electricity to certain regions, have had limited impact.

Should just switch the power off in Bangkok that should sort it out.

[LudwigK]

Goid that there are agencies 8>))))))

[Presnock]

1 hour ago, 1happykamper said:

Happy expat? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Oh come on. Just say it.... Rich expat who can't stand poorer expats close to them. NOT COOL

 

So if opt to not add 800k to my Thai bank account that makes me a less desirable expat? That's a terrible gauge of ethics and morality. Just ask any Russian or Chinese mafia types or other true low life criminals that arrive in LOS. 

do you know if they have to have the same seasoned money in a local bank acct to get a visa to stay here as westerners need to do?

[Presnock]

28 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

If that's what you really think, then you just prove there are more horses' asses than horses in Thailand. Just a sickening post.

do you imply or mean that those communist mafia types don' t have to deposit 800K or 400K in a local acct to stay here?

[thesetat]

10 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

In all fairness, the agents who have been assisting retirees without seasoned money in the bank have been performing an illegal act. The law to have the 800k in the bank was meant to keep riff raff out.

 

I have several friends in the Jomtien area who have used these agents for years. They are real decent folk, not troublemakers in the least - the kind of people you WANT living in Thailand, spending their money supporting the local economy.

 

Sadly, the law is the law. I hope they aren't forced to leave LOS. The place will be a little worse off if they are.

My friend told me their agent said this new banking crap does not affect those who already have their visa. It does not affect extensions also. So your comment seems to be biased quite a lot towards people who may not be bad people just not having millions of baht to keep in the bank..

[HappyExpat57]

2 minutes ago, thesetat said:

My friend told me their agent said this new banking crap does not affect those who already have their visa. It does not affect extensions also. So your comment seems to be biased quite a lot towards people who may not be bad people just not having millions of baht to keep in the bank..

It's not biased, that's exactly who I am describing.

[suzannegoh]

10 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

In all fairness, the agents who have been assisting retirees without seasoned money in the bank have been performing an illegal act. The law to have the 800k in the bank was meant to keep riff raff out.

 

I have several friends in the Jomtien area who have used these agents for years. They are real decent folk, not troublemakers in the least - the kind of people you WANT living in Thailand, spending their money supporting the local economy.

 

Sadly, the law is the law. I hope they aren't forced to leave LOS. The place will be a little worse off if they are.

Is this story about visa agents circumventing the 800K baht requirement?  I've long thought that some day there would be a crackdown on that but this seems to be about barriers to foreigners opening bank accounts.

[Thingamabob]

10 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Each and every day, Thailand is looking like a bad place to work or retire.....

 

I am happily retired in Thailand, and have been so since 1993. I previously worked here from 1983-1987. and visited throughout the 60s and 70s. I have no idea why you say Thailand is a bad place. In all countries rules and regulations regarding foreigners tend to become more stringent over the years. This is hardly surprising given the increasing numbers of people travelling, not all of them as well behaved as they should be.

[Jonathan Swift]

I'm not unhappy to see those shady "agents" go. 

[sambum]

7 hours ago, quake said:

 

What's work ?

 

 

I thought bad language wasn't allowed on AseanNow? 😄

[MikeandDow]

1 minute ago, Jonathan Swift said:

I'm not unhappy to see those shady "agents" go. 

Whats this got to do with the current Topic ???

[Jonathan Swift]

10 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Each and every day, Thailand is looking like a bad place to work or retire.....

 

For chronic complainers maybe. None of this is going to bother me in the least. I had a lot of work and a lot of hoops to jump through when I got my retirement O visa. If this is too much work for retirees then I agree. Don't come here. See if retiring is better anywhere else. 

[dallen52]

10 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

In all fairness, the agents who have been assisting retirees without seasoned money in the bank have been performing an illegal act. The law to have the 800k in the bank was meant to keep riff raff out.

 

I have several friends in the Jomtien area who have used these agents for years. They are real decent folk, not troublemakers in the least - the kind of people you WANT living in Thailand, spending their money supporting the local economy.

 

Sadly, the law is the law. I hope they aren't forced to leave LOS. The place will be a little worse off if they are.

And especially when certain immigration officials are actively engaged and promote using banks like Bangkok bank, where accounts can be readily opened for a fee.

Normally around 4900 baht.

When immigration laws clearly state any commercial bank can be used. 

Jomtien immigration for example. 

 

Buriram immigration is ok with kasikorn bank. 

No requirement to open Bangkok bank account. 

[Jonathan Swift]

All agencies use crooked tactics which rely on bribes to get away with breaking the law. Often times foreigners are misled and taken advantage of, spending stupid amounts of money instead of learning the ropes. 

[Dogmatix]

52 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

Some banks in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, although it's not technically UK, open accounts to non-residents meeting their minimum deposit/AUM requirements.

 

That's right but minimum deposits are quite high for most types of account.

[dallen52]

8 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

We would probably be surprised just how many used the "under the table" visa. In fact..it's openly promoted by the Immigration police.

About 50% do it that way.

Many with immigration officials help.

And a wad of the folding stuff. 

 

As several Immigration officers say. "Without farang have no job".

[bbbbooboo]

hmmm… that will make more foreigners come to Thailand and spend money for sure . What a clever thing to do

[S Mart]

10 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Each and every day, Thailand is looking like a bad place to work or retire.....

 

Hey FlyingTiger are you a FTL World Way West hired type? Just checking. I’m also former FTL. Hired class of 78. Living part time in Hua Hin.
Drop a line if so.

[Dogmatix]

Regulations like this are usually introduced in a very vague way without clear guidelines to the banks which causes them to overreact for fear of getting into trouble.  When they first introduced money laundering regulations I was a PR but was not working at the time.  I went into Bangkok Bank to get a new savings book and a horrible old crone ordered me to close my account due to the new regulations.  I asked her to show me the part in the money laundry regs that required banks to close accounts for permanent residents and, of course, she couldn't but said head office had instructed them to do this.  So I asked her to get someone from head office on the phone to confirm that they were really closing accounts of all permanent residents and force them to remain unbanked for the rest of their days.  With considerable ill grace she eventually got someone from HO on the phone and he told her to pass the phone to me.  The guy apologised profusely for the woman's ignorance and incompetence and ordered her to issue a new savings book, as requested.  Me 1 old crone 0.

[MikeandDow]

18 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

All agencies use crooked tactics which rely on bribes to get away with breaking the law. Often times foreigners are misled and taken advantage of, spending stupid amounts of money instead of learning the ropes. 

You need to read the rules about OFF topic post

[renaissanc]

7 hours ago, LivingNThailand said:

You can't get a retirement extension (visa) or a 90-day Non-O without 800,000 THB in the bank.  And you can't open a bank account without a visa.   How does this work?

I remember this problem in the 1980s when you couldn't get a work permit without a long-term visa or a long-term one without a work permit. In practice, the officials at the Songkhla Labour Department just worked around the stupidity.

[jerrymahoney]

6 hours ago, MikeandDow said:

Yes sadly the law is the law, and you need to research the Law  it is up to the  immigration officer to grant the visa or not (with or with out money) and that is the Law !!

And as per Section 35 of the Immigration Act (1979) as you roughly reference above, if a 'competent official' chooses to waive the nominal extension requirements, he or she is allowed to do so to the tune of 2000 baht as stipulated in item 3 of the Immigration Act (1979( fee schedule.

[sandyf]

8 hours ago, Karma80 said:

I fail to see the uproar. Why should a tourist be able to open a bank account? They can't in any other country.

Get a proper long term visa and you can walk into any bank in person with legit ID and open it. DTV isn't a long term visa and some people need to get over that. 

Indeed, note Item 2 in attached email.

Back  in 2014 the BOT, in line with other countries, tried to limit the availability of banking services to short term visitors but either branches didn't understand or didn't want to know.

So here we are today.

[MikeandDow]

7 hours ago, LivingNThailand said:

You can't get a retirement extension (visa) or a 90-day Non-O without 800,000 THB in the bank.  And you can't open a bank account without a visa.   How does this work?

You are joking ??  You can open a bank account with Any visa

[ThailandGuy]

7 hours ago, LivingNThailand said:

You can't get a retirement extension (visa) or a 90-day Non-O without 800,000 THB in the bank.  And you can't open a bank account without a visa.   How does this work?

Exactly.  Stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Seen this before in the Netherlands where one could not get a health insurance without a social security number and the social security number was not provided when one did not have a permit to stay in the country and the permit to stay was not provided if one did not have a health insurance.  A endless loop that could not be fixed unless one of the parties violated the rules.

[Expat68]

Just now, ThailandGuy said:

Exactly.  Stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Seen this before in the Netherlands where one could not get a health insurance without a social security number and the social security number was not provided when one did not have a permit to stay in the country and the permit to stay was not provided if one did not have a health insurance.  A endless loop that could not be fixed unless one of the parties violated the rules.

A friend of mine is in exactly the same situation 

[BritScot]

8 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

With a work permit it's no problem to open bank accounts, get credit cards, etc.

Well things must have changed! Years ago I asked my Thai bank about getting a credit card. Their answer was mental. They said I give them 50,000bht or 100,000baht they keep it with no interest paid and they would give me a credit card with 50,000baht or 100,000baht limit (in esance borrowing my own money and paying interest on it for this pleasure). My Thai wife opened a 50,000baht credit card with zero income but I had to go guarantor! Like I said "mental".